I would trade him a case of spam for those tickets.

I think its safe to say if the time came when people were trading Spam for gold coins, law enforcement would be long gone.

"...Cops are notoriously serous people and have no sense of humor..."

Actually, most cops have a fantastic, if somewhat sick sometimes, sense of humor. But, to avoid getting complaints, "civilians" rarely see it...

No kiddin'. On a couple of rare occasions when I have let my humor fly while on duty, I was accused of being insensitive, biased, perverted and a host of other negative adjectives. Now I always consider the lowest common denominator in the crowd. That way, the subtle stuff shouldn't go over anyone's head.

I refer to my brand of humour as "my sick sailor's sense of humour".

Once, when I was visiting my brother in Manhattan, I was walking across the street towards his walk-up apartment. Two NYPD exiting his building saw me and one said in a challenging way, "Hey are you going to see John G.?"

I was a bit surprised. John is my brother and we have an obvious resemblance but I'd never seen these cops in my life. So I replied with a puzzled look on my face, "Yes..."

The other cop says, "Yeah, we just busted him for marijuana possession"

I must have shown a look of disbelief while saying "Huh?" because the the cops then smirked and walked off.

Turns out they had been talking to my brother about some complaint he had made. After finishing their business, they left, saw me, drew the apparently obvious conclusion and had a little fun.

I still get a laugh out of myself when I remember that.